Afghanistan Legal Services (ALS) provides a comprehensive solution to legal and rule-­‐of-­‐law challenges facing Afghanistan. ALS staff is experienced in both the local and international justice sectors and has provided high-­‐level support to the Afghan public sector, including the Attorney General's Office and legal advice to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Women's Affairs.

TechNation is a first class technology firm in Afghanistan aimed at providing institutions and the citizens with cutting-edge IT services and solutions. TechNation helps develop Afghanistan as a technology enabled nation by promoting ICT as a tool for development.

Why It’s Important to Have a Demo Table, by Al Bsharah of Embarke

In this guest post, Al Bsharah, co-founder of Embarke, shares why getting a Demo Table at startup events like the Founder Showcase is an absolute must. Al explains 4 key benefits startup founders can look forward to before, during and after the Showcase, including quantity and quality of mentors, investors, customers and more.

A Founder Showcase veteran, Al and Embarke began with a demo table and worked their way up to coming in 2nd place at the 13th Founder Showcase Pitch Competition. To reserve your demo table at the 15th Founder Showcase, click here.

If I were to boil down the reason why it’s hugely important to get a demo table at The Founder Showcase, it would be this word: DENSITY.

1. Density of Productivity:

First, we set a date to launch the 2nd iteration of our product. That date was the Founder Showcase, and we booked a demo table to show it off. I can tell you there’s no better forcing function than an event like this to make sure you hustle to deliver a completed product on time. Pick a date you have NO control over, and lock yourself into it by getting a demo table!

2. Density of Customers:

There’s no better way to get a bunch of people interacting with your product, and you, in just a few hours. Stop running around trying to find people to talk to, and let the eager ones come to you! Make sure there are at least two of you manning the booth, because we could barely keep up with the traffic. Catch their eye with something interesting on the screen. Those that focus on that will spend about 15 seconds before they’ll want to know more or move on…so step in before that happens.

3. Density of Mentors / Investors:

We met quite a few mentors and investors that we still keep in touch with to this day, and I’m sure we will continue to over time. The Founder Showcase draws in investors and mentors from all over the place. Be on your toes and on your game, because you may not recognize an investor until you’re exchanging business cards.

4. Density of Pitch Practice:

When it’s all said and done you might have a hoarse voice…but you will have met some amazing potential customers, some amazing potential mentors or investors, received a ton of business cards, set up a ton of follow-up meetings, and will have learned more in a few hours than you could have in weeks on your own. Best of all, by the end of it your pitch will have morphed into a perfectly flowing work of art!

About EmbarkeEmbarke increases opens, clicks, and revenue for marketers by 5%-20%. Using behavioral analysis we're able to automatically deliver emails to their users with content they actually want, and at the time they're most likely to engage. We don't replace the email service providers or marketing automation tools companies are already using, we integrate with them so our customers can turn us on in 15 minutes. We have an amazing partnership with SendGrid who is introducing us to the top 1-2% of their 130k customer base, and we're optimizing millions of emails every day.

The Founder Institute is the world's largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program, helping aspiring founders across the globe build enduring technology companies. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 50 countries, the Founder Institute has helped launch over 1,563 companies in 5 years. The company's mission is to "Globalize Silicon Valley" and build sustainable startup ecosystems that will create one million new jobs worldwide.